13-0 Is Nice, But...

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; Psyco has been watching the same Saints team that I have. We can't keep rolling the dice with our poor defensive performances - we WON'T get away with it in the playoffs. My worse fear is that we finally have ...

Psyco has been watching the same Saints team that I have. We can't keep rolling the dice with our poor defensive performances - we WON'T get away with it in the playoffs. My worse fear is that we finally have a poor day on the offensive side of the ball (just 1), against a hot wild card team playing way above themselves, and our defense plays its average, give up twentish points, and all of this is for nought. We have to figure out how to put teams away early, and force them into desperate measures that play into our ball hawks. Our pendelum has been too far to one side for too long. I hope we get it together before the sand runs out.

I just look back to our "big games this year."
Eagles - 48-22
Giants - 48-27
Falcons - 35-27
Patriots - 38-17
We've risen to the occasion and starred.
In fact, after we dismantled the Patriots everyone and their mother was on the Saints bandwagon.
This year's team plays well in big games.
at Washington, Atlanta, vs. TB and at Carolina don't matter too me.
The games probably weren't very critical in the player's minds too.
As seen by the result.
But they won.
This next game against Dallas is another game that fits into the "big game" model.
I expect the team to come out and play with purpose.
If they win, and win big... Then what do we say?
"They're good again?"
Until they play Tampa the next week.

NO WAY! Too many heartstoppers so for. Didn't you see all the 20 years + fans from the other poll? We're getting too old for this, and I am only 43. Of course, I was 34 before I went to the Miami and ATL games.

When we win the next 2 SP can play the starters against Carolina if he wants- I'm sitting it out.

The Atlanta players are sweating, pumped up, celebrating every tackle or yard gained. Playing lights out. The coach looked like a candidate for stress management course.

The Saints players are sweat free, businesslike. At the end of the game, when it got close, the defense elevated the play and ended the game.

This team turns it on and off like a switch. You cannot play on pure emotion over a sixteen game season. It is hard to sustain emotion for the month of the playoffs. Right now the Saints only need to win by a point. The Saints aren't desperate for every conceivable margin in a tiebreaker scenario.

If I saw Saints players giving an obvious 110% effort against Atlanta and still only winning by three then I'd worry.

But I saw a Saints team play hard enough to win against a team playing like it was a playoff game and still win it.

We sure can't enjoy success very well.

13-0 is 13-0 no matter how you slice it. If you are worried about the Saints watch the new England game. That is a game where the Saints are playing at full speed. Name a team that could beat them at full speed?

Welcome to an another ATL Saints fan. And I'll be gentle- just face the wall and try not to tense up...

I have seen the bye week mentioned a couple of times now and am not sure why it matters. At that time PT was just coming back, Bell, Ellis, David Thomas and Jenkins were all out. Now they're all back.
Greer was hurt in week 9 and Porter week 11. How would a late bye week help? Bye weeks end in week 10.

The late bye week would not help, but an early one is tough on the body for these guys. Most prefer to be right in the middle in order to feel rested. I think the big key is having that bye in the first round. These guys will tell you that that one extra week is huge for their body. Thanks for taking it easy on me. The post on this site are a lot nicer than other sites, don't like the argueing and namecalling on other sites. We are all one family.

Gumbeau nailed it. This team may lose a game in the last 3 regular season games if they come out too flat against a team that is playing with intensity and get too far behind to catch up (like almost happened in Washington), but they will turn it back on for the playoffs whether at home or on the road. Having Porter, Greer, and Fujita back would be a nice bonus, but the main thing is to get the intensity back in the pass rush.